Teen travelled 4,000 miles to meet Facebook boyfriend – he stabbed her 90 times | UK | News
Essex Police entered home before arresting Jack Sepple
What started as a harmless Facebook friendship between two teenagers ended in a violent attack that left the teenager with more than 90 stab wounds in his chest.
When police officers caught Ashley Wadsworth’s killer on February 1, 2022, he was on a FaceTime call with his sister while “showing her the body.”
Ashley met Jack Sepple, from Essex, through social media when she was 12 and he was 15. In the following years, their bond blossomed into a romance, and the teenager sent messages to her boyfriend online saying, “I miss you so much, Jack. I love you so much. I miss you.”
Canadian-born Ashley was keen to cross the Atlantic to see Sepple in Essex, but her family opposed the idea for as long as possible. Ashley’s mother, Christy Gendron, said: ITV True Crime: “Ashley first met Jack on Facebook, from what I understand. So they were just friends at first… They’d talk about England, and he’d ask about Canada.”
Christy and her husband, Ken Wadsworth, were accepting of their daughter’s passion for traveling abroad. “If he was talking to him I’d say ‘Hi Jack’ and ask him questions about England,” Christy said. “I loved his accent.”
Ashley visits England on gap year (Image: SWNS)
Still, Christy added that she repeatedly warned her daughter not to become overly emotionally attached to Sepple, given the distance between them. What Christy and Ken didn’t realize at the time was that the attractive young Brit their daughter had been talking to online had a number of previous convictions, including harassment, breaching a restraining order by contacting a girl after she ended their online relationship, and assaulting her own mother.
Ken Wadsworth revealed that although he initially refused to let his daughter go to the UK, when she turned 19 he realized he couldn’t stop her indefinitely. After Ashley told him “I’m going no matter what, so you’re either with me or against me”, Ken gave in and instructed him to start saving money for the trip.
Before Ashley set off on the 4,000-mile journey, Christy begged Sepple to keep her safe. He explained: “I told him, ‘Jack, I’m sending you my baby, so please take care of her. … I trust you with her.'”
Sepple tried to console Christy by promising to “protect Ashley with his life.”
Ashley’s sister Hailey [L] He was becoming more and more worried about her. (Image: Hailey Gendron)
But after the excited teenager boarded the plane that would take him to England, Christy would never see her daughter alive again.
Ashley’s gap year visit started off positive, with Ashley telling her mother that she and Sepple had a “very good connection,” but things turned drastically sour after the devout Mormon told Sepple he was considering cutting the trip short.
Ashley’s sister Hailey recalled: “He didn’t take her out to dinner. He didn’t buy her flowers. He didn’t buy her anything. He didn’t do anything nice for her.
“His life was getting a little boring because he was stuck in the apartment they were living in. Jack wasn’t working and I said, ‘You guys just sit there all day?’ I said.”
Ken continued: “I thought they were going to wander around Chelmsford and see the sights but it turns out that wasn’t quite the case. I think they just stayed at home and… and I think it was just a case of control.”
Christy Gendron warned her daughter not to get too attached to Sepple (Image: Phil Harris)
A critical moment came during the Christmas period when Sepple was hospitalized as a result of a deliberate drug overdose. “Things really started to change when she came out after New Year’s,” Hailey said. “That’s when he started to become more controlling.”
Ashley explained that Sepple hit her in the head with a glass cup and became increasingly violent. His sister continued: “It was so bad. I spent two weeks begging him to come home.”
Helen Burtenshaw, who lived next door to Sepple in Tennyson Road, Chelmsford, told how Ashley knocked on her door on the day she died. He remembered: “He came running and knocked on the door. He had no shoes.
“He had a cut on his hand and his phone was smashed. He said, ‘Jack beat me,’ and I said, ‘We should call the police.'”
Sepple had apparently tried to take his own life before killing Ashley. (Image: PA)
Ashley tried to stop Helen from calling 999 but also revealed Sepple, clearly angry, had brutally thrown her cat against the wall. After a conversation with her family using Helen’s phone, Ashley agreed to return home.
The only snag was that he was required to take a COVID test before boarding. On Tuesday, February 1, Hailey frantically tried to contact her sister by stealing Sepple’s phone because she was aware that Ashley’s phone was damaged.
Eventually, Hailey contacted Essex Police, who went to Sepple’s address for a welfare check. Although it was obvious that someone was moving inside, the police, who received no response, forced the door in.
Detective Superintendent Scott Egerton told how Sepple was found in his bed with Ashley’s body next to him. “There was a huge amount of blood in that bedroom,” he said.
Ashley Wadsworth with sister Hailey Gendron (Image: Hailey Gendron)
“It was a truly terrifying scene.”
DS Egerton said one of the officers asked Sepple what had happened. “And he said, quite chillingly: ‘I’m psychotic. I’m sorry.'” Sepple admitted to strangling Ashley before stabbing her.
He was arrested at the scene and subsequently tried at Chelmsford Crown Court in October 2022. The judge, Mr Justice Murray, told Sepple he was a “dangerous individual” and added that the attack on Ashley was “brutal and cowardly”.
Sepple was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 23 years and six months, which he must serve before he can be considered for parole.
You can call if you are affected by domestic violence or coercive control issues. Refuge’s 24-Hour National Domestic Violence Hotline free. Number 0808 2000 247
